Hello Soupers!
I can’t believe what I am about to write, but it has come to an end. I have finished my internship in Lyon. Just a few short months ago, I started out new to the country barely knowing a word of French and without any idea of where I might work. Now, here I am saying goodbye to my co-workers and my chef after one of the greatest experiences of my life.
Chef was not happy to see me leave. That is a victory in a way. He asked me to stay and continue to work for him here in France, but I need to return to my school and finish my culinary program. So, he has written me a letter of recommendation and bid me adieu. I have learned so much from him, and I will always be grateful that he took a risk on an American student that he had never met.
I will be returning home with a great education. I have learned so much. Of course, there is the language. While Chef was on vacation, I had to operate in the kitchen almost entirely in French. I became so much better at the language while he was gone that he seemed confused when he got back and didn’t need to translate his orders.
I have learned much about Lyon and especially the food. Food like Lyon Sausage served with a demi-glace or red wine reduction sauce; Quenelle (a type of dumpling made from ground seafood, chicken or beef mixed with a binding mixture and then poached in stock) served with a béchamel or fish sauce and very tasty with mushrooms, carrots and radish in the sauce; and Brioche au Praline just to name a few. They are all available just about anywhere in the city. One particular recipe I will take back with me is a delicious Tarte aux Pralines made with cream and pralines. It is very rich, very sweet, and very wonderful.
I have been to restaurants all over the city, and of course, some are better than others, but overall, the quality of food in Lyon is incredible. The best way to describe it is to discuss a few restaurants that I have been to recently with my good friend Emelie.
One was George Blanc’s restaurant which actually started as a brewery in 1836. I tried a main course of boneless rib steak served in a pan sauce, some crispy parsley on top and bone marrow along side. It came with macaroni and cheese and veggies. Emelie had a fish dish served in a pan. The waiter took the fish apart at the table and made a pan sauce right there. We both then ordered the crunch caramel butter surprise for desert. Despite its name, this is not the kind of treat you get a movie theater. The desert was a dome of chocolate mousse with a crunch caramel center and ganache covering it.
A few days later, we visited Grand Café des Negociants established in 1864. I was happy when Emelie chose it because I wanted to try it since I first saw the menu months ago, but it is not the kind of place you visit on your own. This is a place with some history, and you can see it in the details of the decor. I was inspired to perhaps design my future restaurant in the same manner.
With lots to choose from, I took on their Menu Lyonnais which comes with four courses. My first course was Pâté en Croûte Maison au Foie Gras et au Ris d’Agneau which translates as Pate of the House with Foie Gras and Sweetbreads. My second course was Quenelle de Brochet Artisanale, Sauce Nantua, Timbale de Riz which is Quenelle served with a Nantua sauce and rice. This delectable sauce had both button and oyster mushrooms, carrots, radish and zucchini. My third course was some delicious cheese Crevelle de Canut which is a really creamy cheese the texture of yogurt with fresh herbs mixed in. Finally, for my dessert I went the simple route, a traditional crème brulée with some berries.
I will also remember the people I have met and the personal experience that I have shared. For example, my friend Mathilde invited me to her family’s house over a weekend. Her home is in the town of Perouge and her house is over 200 years old. Her mom prepared a delicious meal. Her father enjoyed having another guy in the house as he has three daughters. We had a typical French dinner that lasted several hours then I took a walk around the town with her father. He showed me the history of the town down to the wells where they used to wash clothes and an old wine presser that they used to crush grapes. When we returned, we stayed up late into the night talking about the differences in culture between Americans and French. I worked with Mathilde for a while at the restaurant, and we were good friends from that experience, but meeting her family and sharing a meal with them in their home was one of my most special evenings in Lyon.
So now I am done with my internship, but this is not my last entry. I plan to do a bit of traveling for the next month. I hope you will indulge me as I relate my experiences as I visit different parts of Europe and describe the food I eat and the people I meet along the way. Who knows, I may just stop and see some of my fellow students – Julie Fiedler and Emily King (the DOD girls from Into the Soup – compete in a culinary competition in Austria.
Au revoir,
Coty
Read all of Coty’s experiences in Lyon by clicking here
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